MYXpats Centre benefits 1.51m local workers

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Expatriate Talent Service Centre (MYXpats Centre) has benefited some 1.51 million local workers attached to 11,596 registered companies since its inception in 2014.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the country's economy has benefited from the workers who are attached to the multi-national companies that have registered under the centre's Expatriate Services Division (ESD) system.
"Since its inception the MYXpats Centre which oversees the application of employment pass (EP) and professional visit pass (PVP) has received 106,594 applications from expatriates.
"The ESD system received applications from 13,220 companies worth RM3.05 trillion in value during the same period," he told reporters after visiting the MYXpats Centre at Menara Surian, here, today.
He said the majority of the applications were from the construction, manufacturing, business services, oil, gas and energy as well as the education sector.
"The top five nationalities by application include China (24%), India (14%), Japan (9%), Philippines (6%) and Indonesia (6%)," he said.
In an effort to streamline and enhance immigration service delivery for these companies, Mustafar said MYXpats Centre to date has approved 82% of EP applications within its five-day processing procedure, up from 71% in 2014.
"While the job opportunities and economic growth may rise due to the approval of expatriates in the country, the Immigration department's priority is to ensure that the country is not jeopardised due to an over-reliance on foreign labour.
"As such and through the hard work and dedication of the MYXpats Centre team which also has 16 Immigration officers among its staff, we will continue to work closely with leading employers to meet their business needs while balancing security requirements," he added.
MYXpats centre is a one-stop centre that processes and issues EP applications and other EP-related passes for expatriates working in Malaysia.
It is jointly managed by the Immigration Department and Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp), and overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
On another issue, Mustafa said, 59,000 illegal workers have been arrested between January and December, last year.
He added that 254,000 illegal workers were also deported to their country of origin during the same period.